Master
by kuonji
Summary: Clow begins his life's greatest work, and he and his creations learn and grow together.
1. Master, Chapter 1 Yue, part 1

_Spoiler Warning: This is a story taking place about a couple of centuries prior to the manga, "Cardcaptor Sakura". Although it is about existing characters' past lives, it will likely draw information from all parts of the manga, so be careful if you have not finished reading the series._

_Author's note: This story is incomplete. There will be (I hope?) three parts total: "Yue", "Cereberus", and "Clow"._

_

* * *

_

**Master**

**Part One: Yue**  
by Kuonji_  
_

_Today, I was born. I was created by Magician Clow Read, and as long as I exist, I hope to know no other master._

- - - - -

It had been planned for a long time, of course, to complete the first of his Guardians on this day.

For a week now, he had been ready, the procedure perfectly memorized, his power maintained at full, the signs and seals and barriers erected with no error, and even the first suit of clothing that his Guardian was to wear had been painstakingly completed, cleaned, and lain aside in ready. And he had monitored the moon carefully, wanting to be sure that his Guardian would have enough energy to survive comfortably from the moon's power alone while he himself was recuperating from the tremendous discharge of power necessary to bring alive a sentient magical being.

Perhaps it was folly to attempt-- no, he corrected himself, not 'attempt'. This was his one chance and he would not fail. Everything he _Saw_ and everything in him told him he would not fail. But even so, perhaps it was folly to create his first Guardian before even creating the things he was to guard. Surely, one of the Cards would have been infinitely easier to begin his Project with.

But this was the way his feelings pointed him, and Clow was always one to follow his feelings.

Which was not to say that he wasn't nervous. Even with all his centuries of experience this was a Big Step for him -- using the new breed of magic that he had invented to create a magical being capable of protecting his further creations. Creations that would pass on his legacy. And, if he was honest with himself, which he was, the Guardians and the Cards were to be much more to him than just his life's work.

He took a deep breath and resettled his grip on his magical staff, fitting his fingers into the worn grooves that had developed in the wood through the decades since he had fashioned it. It was taller than he was but not as heavy as it looked. He had spelled it to be magically lighter than it should be, though he had made sure to keep enough of its weight for dramatic purposes. Carved in fine detail and polished smooth, it was rather something of a work of art, if he did say so himself. And Clow often did say things himself. And to himself. He found the opinions and feelings and questions of other humans interesting to observe for the most part but after so many centuries of being in the middle of them they had started to become something of a bore to participate in. Well, hermitism was not exactly the answer, he had found, though it suited him for the most part. As for the rest, he hoped to find the beginnings of what he sought today. In the next few minutes, as a matter of fact.

He focused his attention on the figure in the center of the room. He had cleared the room, a moderately sized one he had used formerly as a second lab, of all other things and designated it his "Cove of Creation". His seal, a circle with a stylized sun in the center and a curved moon in the corner, was painted into the floor, and various wards and guards had been placed around it to protect from danger and distraction. The figure that floated over the exact center of the room now (and in the exact center of the magic seal) was the only tangible object inside except for Clow himself.

The figure, rotating slowly in place, was humanoid, with a pale complexion, and glowing very faintly. One could only tell the latter because at the moment there was no other source of illumination. Wings, really more like a feathered cape than a bird's, swept back from wide strong shoulders, and between them hung a shower of white silky tresses, hanging loose but floating just the slightest bit on their own. Long muscled legs led down to feet with long aristocratic toes. The hands were likewise strong but graceful and artistic. He would be Clow's Guardian, but he would fight with magic, not a mace.

His face made that obvious. Clow had spent a good month fashioning the facial features of his creation, being careful to create just the right mixture of intelligence and power and pride, with a dash of alieness in the lamplike violet eyes, but not too much to keep them from looking human.

This was soon to be Yue, his Moon Guardian, and his Guardian would have to be not only strong in both body and spirit but compassionate and wise and above all loyal.

Clow let out his breath slowly, preparing himself. He allowed the shell of his Guardian to rotate once completely again, then stilled it with a brush of power, or rather, by cutting off the power sustaining the motion. Lifting his staff, he spoke slowly and precisely.

_"Powers of Darkness, by our agreement, unleash the powers that sleep in this staff. By the contract that binds us, do my bidding. RELEASE!"_

It had begun. The words were important, but they were not quite as important as simply concentrating his mind on what he wanted to do, and focusing his magic into his will. The incantation was short. All his weeks, months, even years of preparatory work had set the foundations already. What he wanted now was complex, but it could be explained in just one sentence:

_"My Moon Guardian, Yue, LIVE!"_

The seal that had appeared above the painted one as soon as he had started the incantation seared a bright blue and magical winds whipped Clow's robes about him as if ready to pick him up bodily from the floorboards. He held his place easily, however, noting only cursorily by the strength and direction of the winds that the spell was proceeding smoothly. All remainder of his concentration was reserved for the figure in front of him. The power that swirled in the air seemed to coallesce around the pale figure, like a tornado squeezed down until it occupied only the confines of a human shape.

There was no dramatic opening of the eyelids, for they were already open. There was no flourishing of the wings. There was no seizure-like jerk of the body that would signify when exactly it ceased being the shell of what Clow wanted but became the thing itself.

But the eyes, which had been beautiful but unseeing, seemed to Clow to actually focus on him clearly for the first time, and he imagined he could see them filling with intelligence second by second. And watching this, Clow held his breath like a small child watching a bird drop out of a tree, wanting to cry out in the midst of that interminable moment before it unfurled its delicate wings to fly, conscious with every molecule of his being of how important it was that the bird not dash itself to the ground and believing wholly that he would be the cause of it if that were to come to pass.

The figure did move then, spreading those huge soft wings, and Clow breathed. His newborn Guardian hesitated slightly in his first movement, glanced at his own feathered appendages as if unsure, then, beating them twice, he traveled through the air to settle slowly, gracefully, soundlessly, at Clow's feet on one knee. With one elbow resting on his raised knee, the other hand splayed on the ground, the just-born creature returned Clow's gaze with a shining violet one, and breathed, "Master."

And Clow Read collapsed to the floor, boneless and exhausted beyond anything he had ever experienced before.

- - - - -

_For the sake of my creation, Master Clow overextended himself. I can think of no better way to repay him than what is his due: my complete and utter devotion._

- - - - -

In Clow's calculations regarding the moon he had, fortunately, been correct. His creation was strong and would have benefit of the full moon's power for a good five days. However, it had not occurred to Clow Reed, eminent wizard of his lifetime, exactly how much creating his Guardian would take out of him. After all, no magician before him had ever successfully completed such a spell. He had done research on past attempts and similar projects of course, and he knew the magnitude of power requred. He also knew that he had enough without endangering his own life. But what he hadn't realized was that for a good half hour after the Creation he would be quite unable to stand up on his own power.

At the moment that Yue uttered his recognition of his master and creator, Clow's spell was complete, and the moment that the spell ended was when the final balance of power was extracted from the spellcaster as the spell collapsed itself and disappeared.

And so, embarassing as the situation was for Clow, Yue's first duty as his Guardian became to pick up his master and carry him to his bedroom.

A friend had once insisted on describing to Clow the evidently rapt wonders of experiencing one's child's first grip, first word, first step. Recalling that now in his dizzy half-delirium, Clow realized that he had experienced all those in the space of a minute, though obviously not in the same order.

Enormously irritated at his own error, Clow could only accept his fate. Instead of having the prideful joy of standing high in his place as the Master of his powerful creation, he was reduced to lying in bed like a swooning maiden. And instead of seeing his angel-like Moon Guardian in the elaborate robes he had prepared for him, he had to make do with the horrendous sight of the seraphic Yue in one of Clow's own bathrobes instead. A new one, true, taken hastily from the hall closet at Clow's direction, but a bathrobe nonetheless. And that more than anything else made the aesthetically fastidious Clow _crazy_!

Perhaps the bathrobe was a good thing after all, because it was the continuous irritating sight of it that finally drove Clow out of bed and down the hall to his main laboratory where he thanked Yue for his help in supporting him, leaned himself against a handy wall, and pointed out the robes he had made for his Guardian hanging there beside him.

"Put them on," he said, trying to sound Masterly and Commanding but coming out weak and rather closer to begging than he would have liked. "I made them for you."

Yue, not visibly affected by either his act or his actual tone, nodded. He began to take off the offensive bathrobe when abruptly, the eccentric old grandfather clock in the hall struck eleven o' clock with its usual cacophany of chimes.

Instantly, Yue was in front of his master, wings forming a protective shield around them, his face a look of sharp watchfulness and a visible readiness for danger of the highest order. Clow, apparently, had somehow forgotten, when he impressed Yue's mind with necessary everyday information, the role of grandfather clocks.

And suddenly the entire situation, instead of irritating, seemed to him a grand joke. Here was he, purportedly the greatest magician in the world, Clow Read, leaning against the wall of his own laboratory in a state of exhaustian. Here was his creation, his beautiful, deadly, fiercely protective Guardian, wearing nothing but one of Clow's bathrobes and protecting his master from, of all things, a grandfather clock. _Clow_'s grandfather clock, at that, one that he had bought, was it forty or fifty years ago at a bazaar in France.

Clow's chuckle's must have startled his poor Moon Guardian, for Yue turned on him with a look of concern. "Master...?" he questioned.

Clow looked at his creation, saw the worry there, saw the obvious intelligence in those beautiful eyes, and sighed, content and not a little exhausted from his bout of mirth. He had done it. Of course there was no way to be sure yet if he had achieved all that he had wanted, but something told him that he had. He touched Yue's cheek softly with the backs of his fingers.

"It's all right, Yue. It's just a clock. I'll explain later, but trust me. There is no danger."

Yue nodded, instantly believing. "Shall I put on those robes now, Master Read?"

Clow quirked a smile. "Just 'Clow' will do. And yes, please do."

Yue looked inextricably unhappy for a moment. Then he shrugged. "Master Clow, then," he said, as if that decided the matter, and Clow had to hide his laughter this time, because although here was proof that he had indeed, _indeed!_, gotten what he had hoped for, he very much wanted to see Yue dressed finally in the robes that he had so painstakingly made for him.

- - - - -

_Many things still confuse me. It is clear that I have much to learn._

u n u n u n u  
u n u n u n u

_(To Be Continued...)_


	2. Master, Chapter 1 Yue, part 2

_See Chapter 1 for Spoiler Warning and General Warning.Spoiler Warning: This is a story taking place about a couple of centuries prior to the manga, "Cardcaptor Sakura". Although it is about existing characters' past lives, it will likely draw information from all parts of the manga, so be careful if you have not finished reading the series._

_Author's note: This story is incomplete. There will be (I hope?) three parts total: "Yue", "Cereberus", and "Clow"._

_

* * *

_

-

_Today I flew. It felt glorious._

-

By the afternoon of the next day Clow was feeling well enough to take Yue outside to watch him fly for the first time outdoors. He had given his Moon Guardian the ability to float slightly off the ground when he wished, and he found not too much to his surprise that Yue preferred this over standing and indeed tended to drift with aid of his wings even through the hallways and open spaces in the house. Who, after all, would choose to walk when he could fly? Clow did worry a bit however about the expenditure of energy. Yue took due note but assured his master that he felt fine.

It was the second day of his Guardian's new life, and there was no point in being so strict on the day before the full moon. His creation had experienced no physical difficulties up to now and Clow was feeling confident.

"Would you like to fly outside?" he'd asked Yue after waking him from his first night's sleep.

"All right," Yue had replied with barely a nod.

His customary lack of facial expressions had worried Clow at first but he had soon discovered that they indicated not a lack of emotion but only a calm and stoic personality, fitting with the sensitive warrior he had wished for.

And so Clow found himself this sunny day comfortably seated in his back garden next to an old peach tree that bore excellent fruit each year, watching his new creation soar the heavens. The silvery shape cut quite a lovely image over the wildflower fields that spread between Clow's house and the forest behind.

"Don't fly too high," Clow warned, _Throwing_ out his voice to his Moon Guardian. He was reminded uncomfortably by his own words of the story of the unfortunate Icarus. Although Yue's wings would certainly not melt off his back, the air was thinner and harder to breathe up high and Clow didn't want Yue to get dizzy and harm himself. If anything adverse were to happen, however, it would be Clow's hubris that would be the cause and not Yue's, for Yue was as loyal as his creator had wished and was much more obedient than Icarus ever was to poor Daedalus.

"Yes, Master Clow," Yue returned, immediately beginning a downward spiral. "Shall I come back down now?"

Clow smiled. "Do you wish to?"

"It is pleasant here, but I don't want to leave you alone, Master Clow."

"As you will." He wondered if maybe he had overdone the protective sense he'd installed in his Guardian's basic instincts, but Yue had shown that he had his own mind so it should not prove a problem.

As Yue descended toward him, Clow couldn't help but admire his creation yet again. Powerful as a hawk yet graceful as a swallow. Wings that could block both physical and magical attacks yet were more pliable and softer than any avian ones. Perfect physical beauty in the fine limbs and strong torso and the so-carefully-sculpted face. The hair was a good touch, Clow reaffirmed in satisfaction. He congratulated himself on the style in which he'd tied the silky light locks this morning. They were just enough out of the way for Yue to move with ease and just loose enough to give him a dramatic flair. Especially while flying, where hair and robes and wings were free to fling out in the most pleasing instances of ephemeral art.

When Clow had first imagined what came to be his Moon Guardian it had been as a young boy listening to a Chinese tale that his mother had told him. The story was about ChangE, a beautiful young woman who had taken an overdose of the medicine of immortality and become so light that she had floated to the moon. In his mind, he had created a creature like her that would protect and accompany him, a creature ethereal but with a strong character.

In one version of the story, ChangE had taken the medicine to prevent her evil husband from partaking of its immortality and conquering the world. In a different version, ChangE had simply been a foolish and greedy girl who had yearned to remain young and beautiful forever. Although the first version may seem to present the heroine in a better light, Clow had liked both equally. Imperfections appealed to him. He who had been strong in magic from birth understood all too well how a mix of arrogance and innocent longing could lead to less than perfect results. And he who had discovered at a young age an innate ability to _See_ into the future had learned to savor peculiarities in human character that led to events unexpected.

In any case, this image of a humonoid magical companion, graceful, powerful, and loyal, had changed and shifted in his mind as he'd acquired new abilities himself and new ideas. However, it had never entirely left him so that when he had decided not quite a century ago to create a magical "family" for himself, it had been easy to choose what his Moon Guardian would be. He had give this creature the name, 'Yue', Chinese for the moon that he symbolized.

Unlike the heroine of the old story, however, Clow's Guardian had to be male. Even as a child he had been quite firm in that respect. He supposed this was for two reasons. The first reason was simply a practical one. While it was easy to use himself as a model for creating Yue's body, he doubted he could find a woman willing to let him study her nude form in minute detail.

Secondly, Clow had always had a romantic turn of mind. He had grown up with not only Chinese tales of mysticism and intrigue, but also his English father's tales of heroes and adventure and chivalry. And even though his decidedly untraditional, strong-willed mother would very well slap him for thinking this, he was quite enamored with the idea of gallant men protecting their beautiful damsels. So of course, his two Guardians had to be male, and his Cards female. It made sense. It felt right. These were his creations after all, and he certainly had the right to do as he pleased.

There was one more thing: In the tale of ChangE, a rabbit had felt sorry for the girl and, by hanging onto her skirt, had followed her to the moon to keep her company. As a boy with few friends, Clow had always liked that part of the story.

He would work in the rabbit some day, he figured.

After all, looking at the glorious creature flying above his head now, was it not quite easy to believe that he could do anything he wished?

The somewhat smug content that Clow felt as he studied his currently airborne creation wavered as he realized that something was... not quite right.

Yue's expression was set in grim concentration and he spread his arms as if for balance as he hurtled - yes, that was the problem, too _fast_ - towards the ground.

"Yue!" Clow cried, springing to his feet, raising his arms, thinking of a spell to cast - too late- as Yue spread his wings to the fullest, wobbled in the air, twisted around, and tucked his legs under him just in time to hit the ground in a heavy roll that threw flowers and soil and grass in the air behind him, along with a few shining white feathers that for once Clow had utterly no time to admire. And it was only then that Clow managed to throw out his power in the form of pure force, pushing against the direction of Yue's tumbling form, slowing him down and finally stopping him before he could reach the first stand of unforgivingly sturdy oak trees.

"Yue!" Clow called again, but with less urgency this time as, thank goodness, he saw Yue sit up and push himself to his feet with an irritated expression. For the first time in years, Clow found himself running and he approached Yue just as the latter was brushing off the dirt on his robes.

"I've torn the pants leg here," the Moon Guardian proclaimed, looking equal parts sorrowful and disgusted, fingering the offended piece of garment.

"Never mind that," Clow chastised. "Are you hurt?" He looked his Guardian up and down, noting the torn clothes and the scratches on his pale hands and his right knee scraped raw. Yue had had the sense to wrap his protective wings around him as he'd rolled, so, Clow noted with relief, he had no serious injuries. Yue's innate magic should heal his body in less than an hour.

"I'm all right," Yue answered. He frowned and brushed his knee with long fingers. "It... hurts here," he added, hesitant, understandably confused since he had never felt pain before in his as yet short life.

"It will heal," Clow told him. "It's only your body's way of telling you something's wrong and to be careful with it." It made sense, of course. That's exactly what human pain responses were for, and why he had created Yue to have them as well. There would be no point in creating a creature to guard you that would ignore its own wounds until it had engendered its own demise. But at the moment a part of Clow's mind was bitterly regretting that he had created Yue with the ability to hurt. If Yue had not reacted as quickly as he had, he would surely be in more serious condition than this.

And more so, how could Clow have been so self-centered mere moments ago as to look at Yue and see nothing but his own lofty achievement. Hadn't he been thinking not two minutes ago of _hubris_? How could he have forgotten for even a moment the most important aspect of his magical creation?

"Thank God you're alive," he whispered, taking the startled Yue's hands and pressing them between both his own.

-

_I made a miscalculation on the descent and tore my clothes and injured my body. Pain is a new sensation. It is not one I wish to repeat._

-

Despite Yue's magical abilities, Clow found it comforting to personally clean and bandage his knee injury. Besides his Guardian's clothes had no such regenerative abilities. After mending the tear on the right knee of the pants, he helped Yue into them, though he knew Yue to be perfectly capable of dressing himself. His fingers lingered just slightly on the area where Yue's knee had been injured most severely, the soft silk above it having been torn in ragged strips that could only be mended by magical reconstruction.

He stepped back and noticed the Moon Guardian's questioning gaze.

"It's healed now, Master Clow." Indeed his self-healing magic was quite efficient.

"Yes, I know."

"Yet you are still worried. It will not reopen, will it?"

"No."

"Will the injury permanently weaken me?"

"No."

The confused violet eyes widened a fraction in self-thought understanding. "In healing myself, I am drawing too much power from you! You are still so weak-"

"No, of course not," Clow hastened to assure him. "It was only a minor injury."

"Then... you are upset at my earlier clumsiness." This was said with some asperity.

"No, of course not," Clow had returned, a corner of his mouth fluttering upward at the injured pride in his Guardian's manner. "That wasn't your fault," he had added, just to make sure Yue understood that point. "I am only angry at myself." And he swiftly changed the topic before Yue could persue that further.

-

_Despite the chance of pain and the upset I have caused Master Clow, I would like to fly again. I suppose I shall just have to be careful next time._

-

That afternoon, Clow showed Yue the library, reading being an exciting but quieter and far safer activity. Just as he had foreseen, it had been easy to while away the rest of the day there. Yue was a avid reader. Clow looked forward to spending many future nights with Yue as companion in the library.

Human, living companion, he reminded himself. Yue was no toy or pet or mere servant. And he was no doll either for pure aesthetic pleasure, Clow chided himself later that night as he put Yue into his new nightshirt and fitted the matching nightcap over his silver-white hair. As the manner in which his Guardian 'slept' certainly didn't require nightclothes, he supposed he had made them for Yue only out of vanity. But perhaps he could allow himself that much. There was no harm in a bit of dramatic flair, he comforted himself.

Giving the nightcap one last tug, he straightened. "Good night," he said.

"Good night," Yue returned, signalling his readiness.

And Clow summoned the silent command to put his Moon Guardian to rest for the night.

Yue's eyes closed, and his form shimmered, then shrank, then changed until Clow cupped within the palms of his hands a delicate floating sickle moon with feathery wings. He held it up to his face, closing his own eyes and allowing the warmth of its glow to reach through his eyelids and to wrap around his cheeks. Then he sent his sleeping Guardian with quiet care to the hand-made book lying on his dresser, where it sank into the red leather cover and became part of it.

-

_My first day has been an exciting one._

u n u n u n u

u n u n u n u

(To Be Continued...)


	3. Master, Chapter 1 Yue, part 3

_Today Master Clow told me the purpose of my creation. It is an important duty. I will not fail._

* * *

It took Clow a full week to fully replenish his energies after Yue's 'birth'.

In the days while Clow recuperated, Yue spent his mornings gaining a pleasing competence in the art of flight. It wasn't long before he was attempting progressively complicated aerial acrobatics. Clow, nervous at first but recognizing the merits of practice, allowed this with a reluctance that he attempted to scoff at himself for. It was quite unneeded, however, as Yue was careful never again to sustain injury to himself.

Afternoons and nights, the Moon Guardian whiled away the time in the library. He exhibited, to Clow's amusement, a fascination with Clow's collection of romance novels, particularly contemporary hits that Clow had taken to reading during the stressful last decades.

"Do you take a liking to Mr. Heathcliff?" Clow asked him one day, watching his creation in his cool-eyed study of _Wuthering Heights_.

"I prefer Mr. Darcy, I think," Yue replied quite seriously. "Mr. Heathcliff is much too frivolous." The poor Moon Guardian could not understand why his Master laughed so hard.

It was a slightly drizzly day when Clow called Yue into his lab to explain to him the purpose of his being.

"These are the plans for my Clow Cards," Clow siad, showing Yue the pile of meticulous notes he had contructed for his nineteen magical Cards.

"Clow Cards?" Yue asked, frowning at the Tarot-reading notes for Jump.

"I thought 'Read Cards' just didn't have the same ring," Clow commented, relishing the look of utter bafflement on Yue's face before going on to say, "Well, that's not important right now." Yue nodded, looking just a little put out, which amused Clow as well. Indeed, there wasn't much about his creation yet that failed to divert him.

"You know what talismans are?" As expected, Yue nodded in affirmation. In addition to romance novels, Clow had seen Yue paging through various magical texts -- literacy in the fairly complex script of magic having been imprinted on Yue at creation.

"The Cards will be something like talismans -- inasmuch as they will be spells that must be invoked. They will be bound to my magic so that only I or one sharing my magical signature may use them."

"And will I?"

"In extreme cases, you and one other will be able to use their primary power. At all times, you two will be able to use their secondary powers."

Yue, who had been tracing with one long forefinger the casting diagram for Thunder, snapped to attention. "One other?" he repeated.

"Yes, there will be one other to balance you, a Sun Guardian to your Moon."

"I am unbalanced," Yue followed, with the veiled asperity that Clow was becomming accustomed to hiding his smiles at.

"You are well-balanced," Clow corrected. "Otherwise, you would surely have ceased to exist by now." Indeed, Clow had taken the utmost care to balance his creation's magical energies and physical attributes both.

As a boy, Clow had once created a small turtle-like creature based on an illustration from one of his fantasy books. Magical energy it had drawn from the earth, but the balance connecting magic use and its physical body had been flawed and it had expired in less than a day. His mother had been quite severe with him about the incident. His father, who, although also a wizard, did not come from a family as steeped in a history of magic as his mother, had comforted him with a French Spaniel puppy.

"Then why is this other being needed?"

The petulant question was as surprising as it was amusing. To Clow, it had been a given from the start that there would be two Guardians. He had never imagined Yue taking exception to it. He had to gather his thoughts before replying.

"In all things, there must be balance. Levers, for instance, are balanced to minimize the force required. The rhythm of day and night regulates our natural lives. You have read enough to understand that magic is no exception, especially Eastern magic, which is founded on the Yin and Yang.

"Since my magic is itself a balance of Eastern and Western magic, it is imperative to have a balance in each instance if one hopes for permanence. Therefore, where there is one, there must be a counterpart. Do you understand?"

Yue nodded, but did not look fully persuaded.

"Besides which," Clow added, just to see his Moon Guardian's reaction, "I wish there to be another. Is that not reason enough?"

It was a long moment before Yue lowered his violet eyes. "Yes, Master. Of course."

Now, that was interesting. Clow had rather expected an argument. It seemed that either Yue's servility was strengthening, or else that Yue had developed a bit of self-doubt. Clow rather hoped it was the latter, as it was much more correctable -- and rather more fun.

* * *

_To assist in the task, there will be one other. 'A Sun Guardian to my Moon.'_

* * *

Clow spent several hours showing off his plans for the Clow Cards to his rapt audience of one. He explained each card's characteristics, usage, and place in the hierarchy of power, the effect of each elemental card against the other, the categorization of Sun and Moon cards... Here, Yue pursed his lips but made no comment.

Lastly, Clow explained the power of tarot reading. Yue, who had not yet learned about tarot cards, showed some interest.

"The future is not something to dabble with unnecessarily, however," Clow warned. "Despite what one may think, seeing the future is as much a curse as a power."

Yue nodded sagely. "Just as Macbeth sought his ambitions only after gaining the knowledge of his future, yet he was defeated because he saw only a small part of it."

Clow smiled, even as he reminded himself to show Yue some history texts. Shakespeare was a wonderful study of human nature, but it would hardly do for Yue to live forever in the world of fiction.

"You can _See _the future, can you not?"

Clow nodded, unsurprised that Yue knew. His creation knew best of all the extent of Clow's power. He would have learned from _A Brief History of Magicians_, which he had been studing yesterday, that most powerful magicians developed clairvoyance.

Clow had had it nearly his entire life.

He must have let his feelings show more than he wished, because Yue asked him, "Does _Seeing _the future hurt you, Master Clow?" Clow was surprised and touched by the question.

"Sometimes it can't be helped." He had learned to become accustomed to it. He had studied magic avidly since he was a small child. All the great magicians suffered from the consequences of Sight, though, as Clow was dismayed to discover, none as acutely as himself. He had had to teach himself to forget what upset him, and not to rely on what brought him overconfidence.

He had learned to seek out and study the unpredictablility of life itself.

"Have you ever been glad for it?" Yue queried.

Looking at Yue's faintly frowning face, Clow recalled the first vague image of himself, flanked by two beings whom he knew in his heart would _belong _to him more than anything else in the world. He thought about how that remembered glow of peace and cherishment had led him (carefully, though, so carefully lest he ruin it all) down his current path.

"Yes," he replied softly. He had to turn back to the Cards then, before his emotion could overwhelm him. _You are getting old and sentimental_, he chided himself, half-mockingly.

He noticed Yue lingering on two images, twin shapely women with eyes closed and auras of unmistakable mystery. They were modelled on Clow's mother as he remembered her, at the height of her youth and power. He smiled and pointed first to the one with long, luxuriously straight hair. "That one is Dark," he informed his Moon Guardian. "She is yours."

Yue, as usual, did not show any change in expression. However, Clow thought the tilt of his head and the slight straightening of his shoulders a bit smug. "The other one," he said, pointing to the woman with bright rays of tresses fanning around her, "is Light. She is the Sun Guardian's." Seeing Yue's expression, he couldn't help but add, "His name will be Cereberus."

* * *

_His name will be Cereberus, Master Clow says. I do not like this name at all._

* * *

Clow watched Yue's journal-writing with an appraising eye. He detected the smallest of wrinkles above the concentrated violet gaze as Yue worked to set his thoughts to paper. While Clow had impressed his mind with the ability to write, Yue needed the practice. Clow had hit upon the idea of a journal as the perfect way for both writing practice and a way to find out what his taciturn Moon Guardian thought about all day.

On the night of Yue's creation, Clow had presented him with a notebook and a quill pen and ink and asked him to write a daily entry regarding his thoughts of the day.

_"Will you read it?"_ Yue had asked.

_"I imagine that I will,"_ Clow had answered quite truthfully. He had always had a curious and -- as he was honest with himself, he would say -- a prying mind. He saw no reason to hide this from his own creation. He also saw no reason not to pry into the affairs of a being whose existence depended upon himself.

_"How much shall I write?"_

_"As much as you feel like. Just a few sentences is fine."_

Yue had nodded and set to work. However, being apparently a very literal creature -- or at least a very non-expressive one -- he usually wrote no more than a few sentences a day. And invariably before bedtime.

Clow would be very interested to see what his creation said tonight.

* * *

_I wonder._

* ~ - ~ *

(To Be Continued...)


End file.
